Parks pass cost to rise Jan. 1

PLANNING to buy annual passes for national parks or other federal lands? Act soon or you’ll pay $15 to $30 more.

Starting Jan. 1, the $50 National Parks Pass, which covers entry fees to parks that charge them, will no longer be sold. Neither will the $65 Golden Eagle Passport, which covers entry fees to parks plus other federal lands. Instead there will be one $80 annual pass to cover fees for parks and federal lands. Revenue will support the agencies that oversee recreational sites.

Passes bought before Jan. 1 will be honored for their full term at the old price, said Carolyn Hill, manager of the National Parks Pass program.

Congress authorized the single pass to make the system “less confusing to the public,” Hill said. For instance, she said, people try to use National Parks Passes to enter lands overseen by the U.S. Forest Service.

The U.S. departments of the Interior and Agriculture set the new fee, Hill said, taking into account inflation and the fact that daily entry fees have gone up. The fee for the Golden Eagle Passport has not been raised since 2000, she added.

You will be able to buy the new pass, called America the Beautiful -- National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass, starting Jan. 1 at www.store.usgs.gov/pass, (888) 275-8747 or at recreational sites.

Until then, you can buy Golden Eagle passes online at www.natlforests.org, (877) 465-2727 or by visiting recreational sites. National Parks Passes are sold at www.nationalparks.org, (888) 467-2757 or at parks. Lifetime passes to federal lands will continue to be free for citizens with permanent disabilities and cost $10 for seniors age 62 or older.

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No help if an airline quits

PASSENGERS stranded by bankrupt airlines lost a legal protection last month when a federal law expired that had required other airlines to accommodate them.

Passed by Congress as Section 145 of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the law required U.S. carriers, “to the extent practicable,” to re-ticket customers holding tickets on an airline that stops operating.

Congress had renewed Section 145’s protections annually. But this year a bill to do so never got out of Senate committee.

Attempts to attach its provisions to another bill were rejected by the House, said Barbara O’Hara, vice president for government affairs for the American Society of Travel Agents, a trade group in Alexandria, Va., that lobbied for the bill.

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Briefly

Malaria advisory: Overnight visitors to Kingston, Jamaica, should take antimalarial medications and use insect repellent, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised. The agency said more than a dozen people had contracted the mosquito-borne disease. For updates, www.cdc.gov/travel.

Passport help: A new website launched by the Travel Industry Assn. of America, www.getapassportnow.com, provides information to citizens of the U.S., Mexico and Canada on applying for passports. Starting Jan. 23, passports will be required for air passengers to reenter the U.S. from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.

Ontario adds ‘LA’: Ontario International Airport has been renamed LA/Ontario International Airport to avoid confusion with Ontario, Canada, officials said.

Airport copter: Starting Monday fliers can take a helicopter between Manhattan and New Jersey’s Newark airport for $159 each way. Flights will be hourly from 6:40 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays only. The service is run by US Helicopter in Bridgeport, Conn.(877) 262-7676, www.flyush.com.

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jane.engle@latimes .com